419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million pounds" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "claims@9.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447035903955 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "STAR MEGA BUCKS AWARD DEPARTMENT"
<hb4001@w7zrlt1kf.privat.t-online.de>
Reply-To: claims@9.cn
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:47:53 +0200
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION LETTER

STAR MEGA BUCKS AWARD DEPARTMENT
151 Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E14 5DY, United Kingdom
Batch No: SMBA/2907/444/908/07
Ticket No: 45407
Lucky No: 3-18-40-40-76
Serial No: 51622
Ref No: SMB/WIN/008/07/03/LUK

WINNING NOTIFICATION LETTER

We wish to congratulate you over your email success in our computer
balloting sweepstake held on th of 31/8/2009. This is a millennium
scientific computer game in which email addresses were used.It is a
promotional program aimed at encouraging internet users; therefore
you do not need to buy ticket to enter for it. You have been approved
for one of the prizes along side four other lucky winners.Your prize is
worth 1,000,000.00 Pounds (One Million Pounds Sterling Only), as you
won in
the forth Category of the programme.

To file for your claim, please contact our verification department:

Mr. Edward Lopez
INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DIRECTOR
1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E14 5DY, United Kingdom
Email:claims@9.cn
Telephone:+447035903955

VERIFICATION FORM

1.FULL NAME:
2.SEX:
3.AGE:
4.OCCUPATION:
5.NATIONALITY:
6.PHONE NUMBER:
7.DATE OF WINNING NOTIFICATION:
8.Batch No:
9.Ref No:
10. How do you feel as a Win.
INDICATE YOUR MODE OF PAYMENT:

**VIA COURIER DELIVERY____________________

**VIA BANK WIRE TRANSFER________________

Good luck from me and members of STAR MEGA BUCKS AWARD DEPARTMENT

Best Regards,
Mrs.Chinonso Ejofor
(Management).
London, United Kingdom

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam